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+--- Forum: Lathes (http://www.metalworkingfun.com/forum-11.html)
+--- Thread: Let's See Your Lathe (/thread-15.html)
RE: Let's See Your Lathe - wrustle - 10-08-2012
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(10-05-2012, 04:47 PM)wrustle Wrote: My very first lathe......
Clausing 12" x 36" Vari-speed toolroom lathe.
Oh, and guess what?
To be continued................
![[Image: 100_0943-1.jpg]](http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa90/wrustle/100_0943-1.jpg)
For those of you just tuning in.......you may want to go back to the first post I wrote in this thread to get up to speed with the story so far........before reading this..........
So, to continue where I left off..............
Back in the day when my Clausing lathe was in use, (which I used strictly for business and not for hobby......see......I love machining, but have a passion for making money while doing it) I realized through customer demand that I needed to increase not only capacity with regard to the size and length of the parts I was machining, but more importantly the efficiency in which they needed to be made.
I also knew that despite my LOVE for cranking handles (isn't it GREAT when you know a machine so well, you can blindly reach for handles and find them every time.......every single time?!!) there had to be a way I could do things faster...........
Fall one year......(as in the season.....not as in clumsy) I was sitting in my lawn chair at the edge of the school yard soccer field casually conversing with another parent while watching our young sons engage in a somewhat less than riveting soccer match......(thankfully it was cold out to keep me from dozing off)......when the subject came up regarding our employment. Lo and behold, we were both not only machinists, but had our own businesses as well.
Well, one story led to another, and he being farther along in his business than I offered up some parts I could quote on for him to help with his current backlog.
See, he was telling me about how he just bought a new Haas TL-1 lathe........(ohhhhh, I was all ears now.....) and was going through a bit of a learning curve with it.
It was a way cool machine he described!
You cranked the handles to make a cut and then pushed a button and the machine remembered the moves. And when you put a new piece in the machine and pushed that very same button........it did it again......this time......all by itself!! And let me tell you I'd be the biggest liar in the world if I stated I wasn't green with envy as he talked about his new piece of heaven......ummm, I mean, equipment!!
So for a little while......maybe a few months, I did some work for him, and he even did some work for me, some of the bigger stuff I could not do in my Clausing. It was a good thing, all the way around.
One late afternoon, I had some parts of his that I had just finished up and thought,........maybe I'll just take a ride over and drop them off in person.
So I called up my friend and explained to him just that, and after a few minutes of figuring out which giant oak tree he was talking about taking a left just before, and then which stonewall that ran the length of the road to turn right at the end of..........I was on my merry way.
Conveniently for me, his shop was in the next town over, so 15 minutes later and a left at the giant oak, and a right at the end of the stone wall that ran the length of the road........I was there!!
From the outside, you would never know this gentlemen had a machine shop. As I drove down the driveway I came upon a rather large very old two story home with a breezeway attached to very big red barn. Parking my truck in front of the barn I pulled the keys from the ignition and looking around for the usual barnyard dog (not getting my butt chased back to the truck if I could help it).......opened the door and got out.
The first thing that struck me was the sound of a seemingly large diesel engine idling away inside a broken down old 18 wheeler trailer to the side of the barn. As I watched for a minute trying to convince myself that YES, it is an engine inside a trailer, and YES it's running........but why??.........it roared to a higher pitch spewing a cloud of thick black smoke from it's stack pipe as if someone somewhere had just stomped on the gas peddle in the hopes of freeing it from its place amongst the knee high grass and picker bushes en-snarled everywhere around the trailer grasping onto any and everything in an attempt to reach even higher towards the sun. But it was not to be.......and in fact it appeared to have been perhaps many many years since that particular spot was vacant.
As I reached into the back of my truck to gather up the box for my customer a familiar voice welcomed me to his home.
We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes, talked of the weather, and as I handed him the box of parts and was about to open the door to my truck, he asked if I'd like to see to his shop..........
"WOULD I????"...........I shouted out loud.......well, in my head anyways...........I simply responded with a "Sure".......but knowing of this new Cnc lathe.......I just had to see it!!!
"Great", he said, "Follow me, my shop is in the barn. That diesel generator over there is how we power everything. Oh, and I have something else to show you, something that you may be very interested in!" and with that we headed off into the barn.
To be continued...............
RE: Let's See Your Lathe - EdK - 10-08-2012
(10-05-2012, 04:47 PM)wrustle Wrote: To be continued...............
Oh, damn you Russ!
Ed
RE: Let's See Your Lathe - stevec - 10-08-2012
Russ, Oh ye of lttle faith! I now can see how you were lured by the harlots of CNCism. I will pray for you (and try to hide my jealousy thereby.).
RE: Let's See Your Lathe - Mayhem - 10-08-2012
Ed - let's take away his viewing privileges until he finishes his story!
RE: Let's See Your Lathe - EdK - 10-08-2012
(10-08-2012, 06:56 PM)Mayhem Wrote: Ed - let's take away his viewing privileges until he finishes his story!
Darren,
Ed
RE: Let's See Your Lathe - SnailPowered - 10-09-2012
That was a very rude cliff hanger!! I feel like I'm watching my favorite TV show and have to wait a week for the conclusion. I call BS! :ROTFL:
RE: Let's See Your Lathe - PixMan - 10-10-2012
You guys were warned about Russ. The "cliffhanger" is his trademark, and I told you to expect it.
By the way...
How do you keep a moron in suspense?
I'll tell you tomorrow.
RE: Let's See Your Lathe - sasquatch - 10-10-2012
Dang it Russ!! This is just like getting into a story,, and the bloody Hydro goes OUT!!
RE: Let's See Your Lathe - Mayhem - 10-10-2012
(10-05-2012, 04:47 PM)wrustle Wrote: ...Great", he said, "Follow me, my shop is in the barn. That diesel generator over there is how we power everything. Oh, and I have something else to show you, something that you may be very interested in!" and with that we headed off into the barn...
The problem is that I have seen B grade horror movies as well as porn that start like this
So it would be nice to have the story finished before our minds run wild!
RE: Let's See Your Lathe - Rickabilly - 10-11-2012
CNCism isn't a sin,
Without it, none of the manual machines we all use would be cheap enough, for most of us to purchase, whether they be displaced or manufactured by CNCs we owe our hobby to them nowadays.
Losing my CNCs was like cutting my legs off, and I really have just the one goal, this being to get some CNC capacity back as soon as I can. This time around I will be converting rather than buying commercial sized stuff, but with my back, leaning and reaching for handles is insane when there is another way, and there are few skills that I haven't experienced on manual machines over the last 25 years,
I even have designs on converting my shaper, and I want to convert my big Horizontal/Vertical mill, the priority on this is to set up a slotting attachment on it first, as I want it to be a CNC slotter as well, but I think I will sell off my other three lathes to finance the ideal lathe for a CNC conversion,
Regards
Rick